Life
by Shattered Sparks
Summary: Transferred. She struggled to comprehend the thought. What happens next she never expected, even if everyone else did.
1. Atlantis

**(Wow. I really disappeared for a while. Improving writing, and working on this. It's going to be very long, so bear with me here. Thank EmoPiglet169 for dragging me back. Updates will be erratic, but I'll try hard to update at least once a month (or every two weeks if I really try) until the summer. Then you'll be lucky to get one between June and August. And yes, the title IS somewhat clichéd.**

**Strong T rating for swearing (only some is censored) and mature themes that will be coming up at a later point. There is some AU in that I prefer Vinyaya alive.)**

"LEPrecon Major Holly Short. Transferred to Atlantis Section of the LEP due to multiple surface-related infractions, core diving incidents, and lack of officers in Atlantis. Effective in two week's time. You do not have the right to appeal, as no demotion was presented." Holly ground her teeth as her Commanding officer- Trouble, in fact- looked at her solemnly, purple eyes emotionless, half-reading from an official looking piece of paper bearing the pressed seal of the LEP Board. Paper meant it was a big deal. Digital meant she could have Foaly erase the email. Digital meant nothing too life changing. Paper was dangerous. And he was paraphrasing.

"Acknowledged." She replied, tone indicating she had a lot of things to say at that moment that would most likely result in being fired rather than the transfer she was facing, or even a demotion. He nodded sharply, scruffy-sexy(no, scruffy, Holly!)- black hair that even being a Commander hadn't been enough to tame staying miraculously out of his eyes. It ended up in a vaguely teen pop star style that sort of fell across his forehead hiding his eyebrows in a way that had always left Holly wondering if he ever did more than just rub his hair in a towel as a means of styling it.

"Dismissed." His tone brokered no argument, leaving Holly to spin on her heel and stalk out, barely missing slamming the door. She had to smile to herself, even for a nanosecond though. His hair looked longer than her cropped auburn. But she brushed the thought away instantly, as it bordered on... Fondness. And that was something she'd sworn, up and down, that she'd never go back to.

"Hey, Hol-" the call died on the lips of whatever the heck that corporal's name was as she turned to face the small dwarf, eyes and demeanor fiery, face set. "Never... Mind." He seemed to shrink before the imposing officer who simply growled, barely pausing in her half-jog to her office. The stupid mechanical door slid shut calmly, denying her the satisfaction a window-rattling door slam would have created. Even if she didn't have a window. Holly took a seat in the rolling chair, skidding across the floor, feet tapping into her desk and knees bending to absorb the shock. An impulsive hand, moved by fury, slammed her 'inbox' over, sending paper flying and a metal tray crashing to the floor. Memo lines flashed at her- 'Neutrino Registration' this and 'Surface Base' that, before floating to the ground.

"D'Arvit!" She half yelled, trying not to kill the eardrums of the gnome next door, as he'd complained a couple trillion times, sliding out of the chair and to her knees to hastily scoop up the sheets and stuff them into the tray at random. Blurry headlines, it was all a big illegible mess- Wait. The headlines were perfectly clear a moment ago. Holly scowled at herself, furiously scrubbing at watery eyes. She loved Haven. Oh well, tough luck. The Major took a seat again, staring at her computer screen. No new mail, no instant messages from a certain paranoid centaur, no life-threatening crisis, nothing digital to do. Normally she would have welcomed the rare event, but the circumstances set her anger level higher rather than lower.

"Why are you mocking me!" She yelled at the computer, slamming the heel of her hand into the side of the monitor as if she was trying to fix it, voice rising to a screech "You f***ing computer!" Holly didn't answer the knock on the door, only whipping her head up when it slid open.

"What?" She snapped. Poor Grub Kelp was suddenly lucky to be alive, trapped in a death glare. "What!" She repeated the word when he didn't respond quickly enough.

"F-Foaly ask-asked me to t-tell you that the c-com-computer s-system's not w-working." He managed in a quiet stutter. "V-Vin-Vinya-Vinyaya" He finally managed the name and Holly sneered slightly. The Corporal had always had issues with the formidable grey-haired elf, and the thought of her on top of a pissed off Holly was making him wish he'd just quit after Cudgeon's goblins nearly shot him. "Vinyaya wants to t- talk to you."

"You just tell her to wait!"

"N-Now. S-She told m-me that y-you'd try to s-strangle me, but y-you have to g-go any-anyways. S-Something about At-Atlantis." Message thus completed he didn't wait for a response and disappeared down the hall, quaking in his boots. Why were all the women in Police Plaza completely insane?

Holly sat back, squeezing her eyes shut, interest sparked in spite of herself. Relax. Breathe. Ohm and all that Zen crap. There would be much worse than this to face if she somehow got her way and killed Trouble and Vinyaya. Which could be accomplished if she caught them by surprise with a Neutrino on a high setting. She always had been a good shot. But jail was not fun, she knew that much.

Holly sighed, getting to her feet and stepping through her opened door, starting the walk to the Wing Commander's office. Nothing happened along the way to save her- No invasions or plots or yelling centaurs trying to catch up with her (Oh what a week that had been).

"Wing Commander." Holly nodded respectfully as she stepped in.

"Cut the formalities, Holly." Raine Vinyaya did not appear to be in the best of moods. Which did not bode well for the Major.

"Alright then. What do you want?"

"I was planning to lecture you, but instead I want to talk politics."

Holly blinked slowly. "Politics?"

"Yes. Don't tell me you haven't heard of them, it's been almost twenty years since the Fowl boy captured you."

"Yes. Artemis is twenty nine at the moment, and I know what they are." Oh _joy_. The _both_ of them were in snarky moods.

"Well. Atlantis." Holly bristled. Like she needed reminding. "The current Commander is very old, inept. He's going to either die or be replaced soon, and you're a good enough officer that you may stand a chance of replacing him."

"Me? Good officer- Have you even heard why I'm being transferred?" Holly scoffed

"Aside from that." The older woman waved a hand as if she were brushing aside a spider web. "You're reliable, smart, good at dealing with people."

"Apart from the Kelps."

"Just get over Trouble and develop a little tolerance for Grub." The ghost of a smirk lit her features, like she was remembering a private joke

"Get over Trouble? I am. Don't you worry, and don't bet on us getting together."

"I actually have a few ingots in that office pool." Holly stared, and Vinyaya ignored her, putting on a pair of light glasses and pulling out a folder.

"Head Commander Jared MacKinnon of Atlantis. Their system is run a little differently. You have a Head Commander who oversees the LEP and Majors run each branch under his command. The Deeps have a sub-commander to run it, but the Head Commander's really in charge. Since Atlantis is smaller than Haven and has less issues with perps escaping to the surface, he really has the same workload as I do, or Root did. Jared is nearing a thousand, and that's OLD, even for a fairy. His effectiveness has been slipping and Atlantis discipline is loosening. Their Sub-Commander, Tarpon Vinyaya- My older brother- is not quite qualified for the position and not nearly as effective as he could be. The presence of females is less than Haven, but there are still a few girls."

"I know all this." Holly had slouched slightly in her chair, strongly reminded of High School lectures

"But I can talk to Tarpon and have him ask you to be his replacement, my brother's retiring you see."

"Sub-Commander?"

"Making you the next Commander if you don't screw up and the LEP likes you."

"Wouldn't they be the AP?"

"LEP. Lower Elements extends to Atlantis." Vinyaya smirked slightly.

"Fine. I don't have to live in the prison do I?"

"No. You have an apartment. We're letting you stay in a hotel for a month while you get a house, then you're responsible for it. The LEP will pay half, but you need to be able to pay mortgage and the other half."

"Fine." Holly rose from her seat, turning to leave.

"Holly."

"Yes?"

"You're not plotting Trouble's murder, are you?"

"It's all planned out already."

"Don't be too hard on him. Grub says he was nearly in tears over it." Holly stopped, glanced back, and nodded before fleeing to her office. Vinyaya watched her go then smiled to herself. Those two were definitely not over each other, whatever they insisted.

"Water!" Holly gasped, eyes widening in pure terror. "Atlantis is... Surrounded by water!" Took you a week to notice, Short. She slowly relaxed the fist she'd clenched, staring at the wall. That was... Very bad. Water. Enclosed spaces. Both of her phobias. That was it. Trouble was evil. You see, after Opal infected Artemis' smother, she'd been trapped in a barrel of animal fat, feeling her magic draining away, breathing through a snorkel. Contrary to what she'd told a worried Artemis, she had been sick for a couple weeks afterwards, to the point Trouble ordered her home, or he was firing her. And then Turnball Root and the thrall rune, she'd associated the experience with water, leaving her so terrified that it was affecting her ability to function normally. She still refused to swim, nearly killing the smart-ass Private who had tried to get her to. She was showering regularly and had managed to chase a fairy through water to capture him, so they (meaning the higher-ups, meaning Trouble) put up with it.

"Yes it is! Five points to Recon!" Foaly snorted over the video call.

"No! That's bad!" she stared at the centaur. He'd always seemed insane, but this was conclusive proof.

"It's perfectly safe." He replied insolently, crunching a carrot.

"No! How can it be!"

"You don't need to be so-oh..." Neurons sparked and the genius nodded. "I can't help that. You won't let me try any mind control."

"I'm not letting you trick me into buying you carrots!" She replied, trying to bury her fear with sharp comments.

"Fine," he muttered, carrot hanging from the corner of his mouth like he was smoking it, typing up something or other.

"So what did you want?"

"Well I was going to ask if you could ask the Atlantis commander guy to take that trainee I like- Roob- to help the Atlantis techies."

"He's good?"

"Can't have him stealing my job. Will you?"

"Sure." Holly rolled her eyes. "Two sarcastic centaurs in charge of the LEP's technology, what could go wrong?"

"Exactly!" She saw a grin before the link was closed. Holly kicked herself away from the desk, chair rolling to bump into the wall, preoccupied with worrying about Atlantis.

**Please review? You review mine I'll review one of your stories. They really make my day. :)**


	2. Water

**(Hey! So, I'm REALLY LATE and should be burned at the stake, after the rest of the story has been dragged out of me, but life has been annoying. And this chapter was a total bitch to write well. It could stand some re-vamping**

**Remember, strong T rating. Not because I'm paranoid, but because I'm not censoring that much and am using stuff that should not go on. Bad characters...  
**

**All characters go to Eion Colfer. My OC's are MINE and must be used only with permission, kay? Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy chapter two of _Life_!)  
**

It wasn't until the next day that Holly found herself getting called into Trouble's office. Who was talking to Ash Vein upon her arrival. That never, _ever_ boded well. The last time the two of them had been together she'd found herself going after a few goblins during a graveyard shift while they basically let her deal. She'd been laughed at for weeks after tripping over something- everyone assumed her own feet- and breaking an ankle.

"Sir? You wanted to see me?" The woman glared, as much as she dared with those two.

"Yes. Come on." Trouble ignored all formalities, walking around his desk to point her out of the office.

"Where?" Holly planted her feet in a front stance, arms raised ever so slightly as she turned a little sideways like he was going to strike her. The male shrugged.

"Gym." With that, he turned on one heel, marching out. It was obviously implied that she should follow. Ash herded her out, keeping her from either shooting Trouble in the back or 'accidentally' disappearing down a side hallway. Harsh lights lit the path, washing out the sprite's skin to a pale limey green. Trouble nudged a door open, making the transition from tile floors to foam interlocking tiles to try to prevent more serious injuries. Its success was debated. Holly relaxed, thinking that they were taking her to spar or something. Ash nudged her along towards the back, to an open door. That Trouble was holding open. Her brain didn't register where it was, something Holly later blamed on the fact that she'd not gotten enough sleep the past week since receiving the news of being transferred. So, like a trusting sheep before it is killed, she walked through the door.

The almost overpowering smell of chlorine and a ten degree increase in temperature stopped the Major in her tracks, panic rising in her throat. Holly whirled to try to get past Ash, who was grinning in a way that reminded one he'd taken a few too many hits to the head a little while ago. She took a step, and Trouble's arms were around her waist. Holly let out a small squeak, finding he'd pinned her arms in the process as she was lifted off of her feet like she was a little girl again. Her dad had done that when she and Mid were at the pool. What had happened to her brother again? Trouble swiveled, pitching a struggling Holly into the deep end of the pool.

To humans, eight feet, ten feet isn't that horribly deep. You're four or five feet tall. That's about twice your height. No big deal. Now imagine you're two or three feet tall. Five times your height. That's ridiculously easy to drown in. For a five foot human that's twenty five foot deep water. Holly screamed under the water, precious air bubbles escaping from her lungs. She looked to inhale, finding liquid instead. Trouble peered into the pool, looking no more concerned than if he'd flicked an ant off of a table. The Major thrashed, and Ash took a step to stand next to his commander and good friend

"Should we pull her out?", he voiced the concern not wanting to be responsible for the death of one of Haven's finest. Trouble shook his head.

"She'll be okay." Ash nodded doubtfully, scanning the room for witnesses. None presented themselves.

Meanwhile, under the water, Holly's oxygen starved brain managed to send forth a spark of knowledge. She kicked frantically, dislodging her boots. Weight thus relieved, a couple weak kicks brought her head above the surface. She had time for a single cough before sinking under again, lungs barely fuller than before. Holly kept her eyes firmly shut as she windmilled her arms in an attempt to reach the side. As her remaining oxygen dwindled, she took a gasping breath of water. One hand struck the side as she tried to get air, coughing out water and sucking in more. Vision growing dim and head spinning, she clawed her way up the wall. One hand got a weak grip on the side, and Holly managed to haul herself out before her strength gave out.

The Major managed to get onto her hands and knees, water pouring from her mouth and nose. Finally, finally she got a good gulp of air. At least, as good as chlorine saturated air can be. She let her knees fold, and sat back, hands on thighs to glare at the men. Trouble's face remained impassive. Ash looked like he wanted to be somewhere else. Holly broke the silence, holding up her left hand, with a tone that afforded no argument, and made Ash want to crawl under a rock.

"Dive the f*ck in there and get back my boots and my MOTHER'S GODDAMED RING BEFORE I RIP YOUR BALLS OFF!" Trouble shrugged, slid off his own boots and took a running start, diving straight in. Under a minute passed, and he popped back to the surface, throwing the waterlogged boots at Holly. She rolled aside, letting them land with twin wet thuds next to her.

"Ring?"

"Got it." He got his palms onto the concrete, straightening his arms and hopping out. Holly stood up, mismatched eyes threatening horrible things.

"Give it."

"No." She shifted her weight to her back foot.

"Yes." It wasn't particularly threatening in a raspy voice, but it got her point across.

"Later." Trouble walked out. Holly whirled to Ash. He raised his palms and dashed out.

**(So, review my story and I'll review yours. I've seen some great stuff reviewing, and plan to keep it up. Any suggestions? Thanks guys)  
**


	3. Rings

**(I'd like to dedicate this chapter to EmoPiglet169, you managed to remind me that I'm writing a story here!**

**Many, many apologies, I had summer camps, marching band, summer with the family... And I'm gearing up for high school, so while I promise to try, updates probably won't get a lot faster. Sigh.**

**Canon characters and world belong to Eion Colfer, OCs and plot belong to me. Sigh.**

**Again, swearing is very mildly censored, so watch yourselves. This is not an 'I'm paranoid' T rating, this is 'I may wind up rating this M if I change a few sequences T rating')**

Holly stumbled to the locker room, still catching her breath. How dare he. How dare he! She ought to- to-

She slammed her locker open, rubbing her hair with a towel. Holly didn't know it, but she was lucky that the females had their own locker room. None of them liked dealing with boys smirking at their hair. And hers looked rather like she'd accidentally caught it in an eggbeater. Actually, Holly looked like she'd been caught in an eggbeater in general. Dripping wet, rumpled clothes, red eyes. Not from crying, Holly refused to acknowledge that; it was from opening her eyes in chlorinated water! Anyways, she had a change of clothes stashed in here. And a hairbrush, right?

Wrong. The elf stared at the contents of her locker in dismay. A black tank top, workout shorts, a pair of tennis shoes. What? This was wrong! She knew she had a spare uniform- that she had grabbed after that one mission got her covered in muck. Shit.

Meanwhile, Trouble was fiddling with a rather nice ring. He didn't have a clue as to why he'd grabbed it, he just had. Useful to have, in all likelihood. Perhaps blackmail, perhaps just to remind him of the elf? After all, she was leaving in about a week. He'd overheard her telling Foaly off about babysitting because her house was 'half boxed up, so unless you want them dismantling my refrigerator, I suggest you find someone else to watch Flash and Violet.' The centaur had grudgingly agreed to not make her try to keep the twins in line. Instead, HE had been handed the task of watching the little monsters. Trouble rubbed the back of his neck, remembering the incident. Note to self: Keep the string and tape hidden. Oh, and the furniture too, maybe pad the floors. He leaned over, grabbing some paperwork out of his desk, listening to the door whoosh open and shut. He didn't look up.

"Yeah?" Silence. Without thinking anything of it, he resurfaced, setting a paper on his desk and looking up. Straight down the barrel of a Neutriono. Aimed by a very pissed-off Holly.

"I'd like my ring back, Kelp." Trouble stared, brain shorting out. What came out of his mouth was not a comeback, but

"What are you wearing?"

"It's what I had after you dunked me." She growled a little, holding out her other hand. Trouble found himself staring, specifically at her, shall we say, chest region. It really was a tight tank top.

"Oy!" Holly's hand cracked across his face, and he shook his head slightly, cheeks reddening. From being slapped, of course. Not because this was embarrassing.

"Right, ring." His palm opened, and Holly snatched it, stalking out.

Trouble slumped back. Wow. Tight shorts too, she really did look good. Wait. This was HOLLY. They hated each other, remember? With another head shake he went back to his paperwork. And he did NOT think about the encounter. No, that was him, erm, never mind.

**(Wooo... If anyone's still reading I officially adore you. I was origionally gonna have a mistaken-as-a-proposal ring return, then decided this would be better. However, I can write that up as a bonus if y'all want. *coughREVIEWtoTELLmeTOcough* Thank you for reading!)**


	4. Bonus 1

**(As per request by my lovely, lovely readers, we have an alternate ring-return scenario. I'd like to thank EVERYONE who has reviewed and everyone who will go on to review. You are AMAZING, I'm so grateful you're putting up with my erratic updates.**

**As always, I own plot and OCs, and am not Eion Colfer. Oh well. Watch for slightly-censored swearing, some pretty bad words here.)**

Holly stumbled to the locker room, still catching her breath. How dare he. How dare he! She ought to- to-

She slammed her locker open, rubbing her hair with a towel. Holly didn't know it, but she was lucky that the females had their own locker room. None of them liked dealing with boys smirking at their hair. And hers looked rather like she'd accidentally caught it in an eggbeater. Actually, Holly looked like she'd been caught in an eggbeater in general. Dripping wet, rumpled clothes, red eyes. Not from crying, Holly refused to acknowledge that; it was from opening her eyes in chlorinated water! Anyways, she had a change of clothes stashed in here. And a hairbrush, right?

Wrong. The elf stared at the contents of her locker in dismay. A black tank top, workout shorts, a pair of tennis shoes. What? This was wrong! She knew she had a spare uniform- that she had grabbed after that one mission got her covered in muck. Shit.

Trouble Kelp appeared to be considering something. The passing observer would have taken the diamond set in a gold band he was holding as a sign he was thinking seriously about something along the lines of marriage- provided said observer did not know the man. If someone who knew Trouble saw this scene, the approximate response would include a lot of questions, including confirming his identity. It was a law of nature, after all. Swear toads swore. Trolls didn't go to university. Trouble Kelp was not the 'marrying type' and would never be. His younger brother getting married was more likely, and someone agreeing to spend the rest of their considerably long life with Grub would be a mild universal anomaly in of itself.

But there he was, inspecting a wedding- an _engagement_- ring in his office. Trouble was sure that Holly would find some way to get it back- probably a rather violent way- but that didn't matter, for the time being. Because it was Holly's ring, and Holly was leaving soon. And perhaps it would be something to remember her by. He stood up, crossing to the front of his desk and leaning against the front. He should technically be doing paperwork, but he could afford this distraction.

He didn't really know how much time had passed when the door banged open. The Commander jumped, fumbling the ring and catching it, half bent over.

"Trouble fuck*ng Kelp, what the D'Arvit are you doing?!" Holly may be an inch or so shorter than him, but she was pretty damn terrifying when she wanted to be.

"H-Holly!" Frond, his voice had gotten higher. Trouble dropped the ring again, falling to one knee in his haste to not lose slash destrotagged shiny thing. He caught it, peering nervously up at the woman.

"I heard shout- Oh my FROND!" Came the high voice in the doorway. Two heads turned at once to look at Lily Frond. Holly's cheeks and neck colored. Trouble scrambled to his feet.

"No way!" Lili frowned, hurt on her features. "You two? I owe Foaly twenty ingots now."

"We're not-"

"He took-"

"Lili, I'm not proposing to Holly, it's her ring." Trouble had the grace to look guilty.

"It's my _mother's _ring," came the acidic response as Holly plucked it from his fingers, undoing a chain around her neck and re-fastening it.

"Oh. Alright then." Lily wore an odd look of relief and amusement. The blonde turned, starting away.

"Lili-" Trouble followed, trying to convince his friend that she'd just witnessed a mistake.

"And here I was thinking I'd have to shoot him." The auburn-haired elf laughed, starting to her office.


	5. Home?

**(Ohai, I'm back! Shocker, isn't it? But hey, I'm surviving High School, which is good.**

**As always, watch for swearing, and I do NOT own anything Eion Colfer owns. Unfortunately.)  
**

To say _the day_ dawned bright and early would have been a grave insult upon Holly's mood, and a great compliment on the weather system a certain LEP technical consultant had claimed to install. Mornings in Haven didn't dawn, the tunnel lights faded from dim to less dim- but that was not a subject that should be brought up to the touchy centaur if you valued your online privacy. Or your reputation. Regardless, Holly could be found dragging a bag to a shuttle station before breakfast. Before bloody sunrise. Someone, Trouble probably, had decided she needed to arrive in Atlantis in time for lunch. Meaning a five AM shuttle.

"Holly Short." She stated her name clearly for the scanner, watching quietly as it laser-printed her name onto an identification tag that had been attached to her duffel bag. Identification thus complete, the computer synched her name with her ticket, bag being floated away. With a scowl, Holly hoisted a backpack onto her shoulder, turning towards the terminal.

Holly wiped suddenly wet cheeks. _Goodbye Haven._

Civilian shuttles. Frond she hated them. Seats were reasonably cramped (as in she could stretch her legs enough to not have them locking up), food was bad- she refused the bagel that was offered after it seemed to growl at her- and travel was so _slow._

Holly didn't realize she had dozed off until four hours later, the pilot's voice was blaring over the intercom, unnecessarily loud.

_"And welcome to Atlantis, it's three in the afternoon locally, remember that Atlantis is six hours ahead of Haven, folks. Thank you for riding with us, have a wonderful day!" _Cheery asshole. Holly picked up the backpack and waited fifteen minutes before the aisle had cleared enough to let her off.

The first thing she noticed was how bright Atlantis was. Despite the tinted dome and the fact that they were deep underwater, somehow any light inside seemed magnified. Dome... Holly looked up, taking in a dark, dark blue curve hundreds of feet above her head. She wasn't sure if this made her feel like she was in a snow globe, or under a blue sky. At least things were much less claustrophobic than she'd imagined. It actually seemed... Rather nice, compared to the Haven City she knew and loved.

"Are you Holly?" Someone's hand on her shoulder startled the woman, enough to get her to jump, decking the sprite that was trying to greet her. The man landed on his ass, clutching a broken nose.

"Aw, did'ja break Phin?" A strangely small elf with curly brown hair stared at her, offering a hand to the sprite. A strangely small _female elf_.

"Oh, I'm sorry-" Holly started, trailing off at the girl's laughter as she pressed a hand to the sprite's cheek, sparks flooding his face. "What?"

"That's the best reaction possible to start yourself off with him, hopefully he'll be less clingy now that he know you hit. I'm Chryss. This is Phineas, call him Phin. You're Holly?"

"Yep. Sorry about that..."

"Lieutenant McKie. Phineas Tide McKie, at your service, miss." He smiled, rubbing his nose.

"And you are?" Holly turned to the girl

"Captain Chrystiana- it's got a weird spelling and I go by Chris anyways- Undine." She offered a shy smile.

"Got your bags?" Phin tapped the screen of a small tablet, looking nervous. Holly noted how he held himself- as if expecting her to yell or lash out at him. Odd.

"I need to grab a duffel, it should be coming in any minute now." Chris nodded, Phin filling something in on his screen. Holly shrugged taking the ten or so steps to the luggage carousel to wait the three minutes before the bag floated in. She grabbed it, turning on her heels, waiting in a parade rest position.

"Right. So, you eaten anything lately?" Phin walked over, taking her arm to tug the Major along. "No, it would have been way early and those things have _terrible_ food- We'll stop at the Canteen. Chris, you hungry? Of course you are, I saw you miss lunch to catch up on that paperwork. Don't look surprised, we're partners and I actually worry. Now, Holly. We have an apartment for you, it's really not bad. Bed, shower, cooler, you know. Good little starter place. We'll get you to the LEP, show you your office, introduce you to the commander, all that jazz." He paused to take a real breath and Chris jumped in.

"Don't mind him, he's trying to be nice." Holly nodded, not really sure how to react. Instead, she looked around, noting the light colors and admittedly nice architecture. Although that was probably because this was the tourist area of Atlantis. Look nice and all that.

"Oh, I'm usually talkative. Now, there's a car waiting, just toss your stuff into the trunk and we'll talk on the way over. You're obviously in the Recon division, but apparently commander MacKinnon wants to talk to you. Don't know if you should be nervous or excited. Being in Recon means that you're here to do paperwork, and catch crooks- Retrieval works with you guys, the departments are pretty similar, sorta interconnected." He popped open a car door, urging her to throw her bags in and sit. Holly did, watching Chris get into the driver's seat. Phin shut her door, sliding in next to the other Atlantian.

Let's just say that Chris's driving was a lot like Holly's- not necessarily safe, but pretty damn fun. Phin wound up being quiet, hanging onto a handle in the ceiling and appearing to be praying. Chris leaned over, flicking his earlobe.

"I haven't hurt anyone yet."

"Yes, but the poor stop sign!"

"That was _once_." With an exaggerated sigh and eye roll, the girl swung around yet another corner, brakes screeching as she parked in front of Police Plaza.

Holly stared.

"Welcome to your new home, Major." Phin grinned, pulling her door open.

**(Bah, bad ending, but hey. I'm sick and tired, please don't hate me. Promise I'll update SOON. Reviews are treasured, thank you EVERYONE who's been reviewing and reading- I notice! And really, really appreciate it :) )**


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